Maybe there’s no ratio and no need to mathematise this topic. But I have been thinking about it for a while now, particularly since I had kids.

The older I get the less I feel the need to explore something new and rather deepen what I already know. This is valid for all things: restaurants, food, places, relationships..

Some may say that is natural. But I also know people who don’t feel this way, and they are always on the lookout for the adventure, new food, new places to visit, who are also very open to making new friends..They were my reference for a while until I accepted that we are not all made of the same “dough”.

So while I crave food that I’ve never eaten or places that I’ve never seen, I still crave more that pho soup two blocks away from home and going back home to Romania.

However, I also crave the novelty of a new dish, travelling to cities that I’ve never visited and meeting new people with different interests and professions.

While I thought that we only learn from the new, learning actually never stops even with people we already know, and by exploring the same places over and over again. I’m amazed what I still discover about my family history or the Romanian cuisine every time I go home.

My hubby says it’s normal to choose what I know over the new, because with kids we tend to look for safety, and in a way with time passing by, we have less energy and are less productive to dive into the unknown.

Yet yet yet…the trick is to still keep that novelty present. So what’s the ratio? 🙂